20something--and homeless

More than 25,000 youths have no place to live

Jermaine Edwards estimates he has walked nearly 10 miles every day since he became homeless in January, pounding the pavement around Clark Street and Belmont Avenue until his sneakers became tattered.

He's ridden the Red Line to stay safe and warm at night so often he has memorized the schedule.

The 21-year-old tries to sleep during the day. Giving in to it at the wrong time makes him an easy target.

"I don't trust people on the street; I don't want to wake up with a knife on my throat," Edwards said. "If I fall asleep, it's because I've been up for two or three days and I just doubled over."

Nationally, the population of runaways and youths kicked out of their homes doubles in the summer, the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Thrownaway Children concluded in a 2002 report.

A new report dramatizes the already dire shortage of beds and services for homeless youth. There are an estimated 26,000 homeless youths in Illinois, the majority in Chicago, but only 212 state shelter beds are dedicated to them, according to state figures.

The problem is particularly acute in Chicago and Cook County, home to the majority of the state's young homeless. The bustling intersection of Belmont and Clark is something of a magnet for many teenage runaways, said Mitch Oldham, a spokesman for the Chicago-based National Runaway Switchboard, which fields calls from 115,000 runaways and their families yearly.

"It is something of a Mecca for runaway and homeless youth because of the nature and culture of that intersection," he said. "It has developed a certain cache in the Midwest for being progressive and hip, where you would find a certain acceptability for outlooks."

The intersection is near the heart of "Boystown," home to a thriving gay community.

It was a sense of acceptance that first attracted Edwards, who is gay, to the Belmont Avenue neighborhood. Until he was 13 Edwards grew up in Englewood where he came to be the caretaker for two younger sisters after substance abuse unraveled his home life, he said.

"You're used to one lifestyle, and you go from having everything you want to nothing," he said.

He and his sisters became wards of the state and were placed in foster homes and eventually in Maryville Academy, where Edwards lived for about five years, he said. After graduating high school and several unsuccessful attempts at college, Edwards found himself without a home in January, he said. At 21, the money he received from the state dried up.

"It was depressing," Edwards said. "That day I remember realizing I was completely, totally on my own."

A recent report funded by the city indicated that improved social services for these troubled teenagers could help a broader population. The report, Wherever I Can Lay My Head: Homeless Youth on Homelessness interviewed 400 youths between the ages of 14 and 21 and was undertaken by the Night Ministry and the Center for Impact Research.

At the time of the study, 51 percent said they had been homeless for more than two months and about 26 percent were homeless for more than three years. Nearly 22 percent of the youths surveyed said they had been under the supervision of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

For Edwards and other youths, the clock is ticking. The longer it takes for them to get help, the more damaged they're likely to become.

While Edwards still believes that he'll be something one day, he must fend off the temptations of the street--such as the lure of fast money from prostitution.

"The drag queens ask me, 'Why don't you prostitute,' and I say, 'I just can't,' " Edwards said, noting that each sex act could earn him at least $50. "My situation is not that bad."